AmphibiaWeb Account

 Map of Life

Description
Females reach 27.4-31.38 mm and males reach 25-30 mm in Snout to Vent Length (SVL). Head width is equal to max body width, head wider than it is long (head width 35.4 -40% SVL). Snout rounded (when viewed dorsally or laterally). Eye-nostril distance is approximately 50-69 % the diameter of the eye. Loreal region not concave. Diameter of eye is equivalent to 29.2-37.5% head length. Supratympanic fold is thin. Tongue is equally wide as it is long. Humeral spine is externally visible in males. Length of tibia is approximately 40-58 % SVL. When hind limbs are adpressed anteriorly, the ankle reaches the tip of the snout, when forelimbs adpressed posteriorly, the knees only just reach the elbow. Dermal tubercles or folds of skin are absent from the tarsal. Internal metatarsal tubercle is elliptical. Males have spines on the rostral and lateral sides of their head. Belly and thighs with many small tubercles. Dorsally dark green. Hands, feet, belly light yellow. Axilla region with a greenish-blue coloration. Bones are green. Upper lip and ulnar region bordered by white.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Colombia

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Centrolene petrophilum is known from the border along the Cordillera de Colombia in the municipios de Miraflores and Pajarito at elevations between 1600 and 2020 meters.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Found on vegetation in rocky areas. Males call while perched on the sides of rocks. They defend these calling sites because that is also where females will lay their eggs. Females have been seen on plants near the rocks as well as on the rocks directly. When disturbed, males retreat and return a few minutes later as if nothing happened (even if the flashlight is still beaming down on the defending male). Sexual dimorphism in this species can be observed by the fact that the females are larger and lack the facial spines present in males. In their sister species, Centrolene acanthidiocephalum, the females have spines, but significantly smaller than the males’

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

Habitat modification from deforestation, or logging related activities
Intensified agriculture or grazing

References

Ruiz-Carranza, P.M. and Lynch, J.D. (1991). ''Ranas Centrolenidae de Colombia II: Nuevas especies de Centrolene de la Cordillera Oriental y Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.'' Lozania, (58), 1-26.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2003 Centrolene petrophilum <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/1739> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 23, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 23 Nov 2024.

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